Minocqua Area Fishing Report 2/2/16
A second weekend in a row of fishing success not meeting the expectations of us anglers, what with all the great weather we had.
Warm temps cresting 40 degrees, a little sunshine, made for a great time to be on the ice., just not as much under the ice. Reports from Fri / Sat were slow, with things picking up by Sun/ Monday as the fishing pressure dropped off.
Northern Pike: Fair-Good. Winners of the weekend as pike bit just enough in some areas to keep anglers attention. Actually a few good reports of fish 28-34” with others catching “ picklers” of 20-24”. Large shiners, River shiners and Pike suckers under tip-ups. Not much for technique, just put a spread out over a weed flat and its deepest edge till the fish tell you where they’ll eat.
Bluegill: Fair –Good. Best on the lakes with 8-12’ of weeds. Flowages seeing better bites in 16-18’. On clear lakes use mousees, spikes on dark tungsten jigs one foot off bottom. Flowage gills responding to 1/16 oz. Flash Champs tipped with 4-5 red spikes. Bright colors, UV colors seem to get best response.
Largemouth Bass: Fair to good. Medium shiners on tip – downs. Tingler spoons tipped with a minnow head. Numbers of 14-16” bass this weekend, with a few over 18”. They love those warm ups.
Yellow Perch: Fair – Good. Some bites over deep sand grass of 22-26’ or over mud flats in 18-28’. Grass bites on natural or brownish jig / plastics tipped with spikes or mousees. Over mud, Hali jigs, #2 pimples and Perch Talkers banged into bottom to stir up mud, tipped with wigglers or red spikes. On lakes where perch found in 10’ or less of weeds, Ratso jigs in motor oil or red tipped with waxie working well.
Crappies: Fair. As good as the weather was for tip-down anglers, the crappies just didn’t seem to want a big meal. Best slow working jig and plastics one foot off bottom. Some very nice Crappies reported, fish of 13-14” – most of those from the flowages. Bright colored jigs tipped with waxies or spikes best in the dark water.
Walleye: Poor-Fair. Tough bite of late. Late night anglers reporting small windows of activity on smaller sucker minnows. Very little action while jigging.
With a snow storm looming our way today, travel on what had become an already messy ( slushy) ice cover will only get worse. The warm temps over the weekend condensed snow, but added to the slush. With a blanket of new snow forecasted, the slush will be insulated as will the ice! Don’t expect to see any more ice for the rest of the season. The 10-14” we have now will probably be it.
As of now, snowmobiles and A.T.V. traffic is good. There has been truck traffic on the Flowages, Stacks Bay and the south end of Big Arb. Watch our website for travel updates after the storm passes on Wed. For now wear water proof boots to combat the slush.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop